The problems
with the Atari 5200 CX52 Joysticks have
been well known for years by Atari 5200 console owners (Mushy left and right Fire Buttons that go bad, Start-Pause-Reset
buttons that go bad (can not start the 5200 game) and internal CX52 Controller Flex Circuits that fail).
If you found five used Atari CX52 controllers (like on E-Bay), each would have a
different problem like Start buttons would not work, Left or Right or both fire
buttons would not work, Controller cursor would not go all of the way left or
right or up or down, Cursor shakes badly during the 5200 Super Breakout game or
something is stuck inside the CX52 controller and the CX52 handle binds up.
Atari CX52 Controllers put away working 2 to 10+ years ago working fine, would
go bad with no use at all. New Atari Stock replacement CX52 Joystick
controllers right out of the new box (sat in the Atari Sunnyvale warehouse for 2
to 6+ years) would have a very high failure rate. Even rebuilt Atari CX52
Joysticks using new Atari OEM Carbon Dot replacement stock internal silicon pads
and internal Flex Circuits would with normal use, would only last 2 to 3 years
between rebuilds before they would again go bad and have to be rebuilt again.

Since Atari Engineering designed the Atari CX52
Joystick some 25+ years ago, Nobody except Best
Electronics has done anything to improve on these problems on this Very Popular
Atari Joystick.

After working on this project for over 6
months Best Electronics
is proud to announce that we now releasing the
Final answer to all Atari 5200 Joystick Owners
problems. Now in stock
is a complete set of New replacement Atari CX52 Joystick Silicone pad sets that
now have All Gold
Metal Contacts. To enhance these
New Lifetime CX52
GoldSilicone Pad sets: Auxiliary Key pad (Start-Pause-Reset),
Fire Buttons and Numeric Key pad), Best Electronics is also pleased to release a Gold
Plated Rev. 9 Flex Circuit. For more information on the Best Electronics
Gold
Dot Auxiliary Keypad with better tactical feed back, the 1st Upgrade
to the Atari CX52 Joystick released by Best Electronics a couple of years ago,
click on the Best
5200 URL button

The
benefits of all Gold
contact surfaces have been known by the Electronics industry for years. Most
high end Computers, Electronic Test Equipment and Military Spec. Electronic
Equipment use Gold
plated switch contacts / connectors and
Gold
plated printed circuit boards for Better
Reliability, Low or No contact / circuit resistance and Non Corroding Non
Tarnishing metal in Rough and Harsh environments. Any Atari CX52 Joystick
installed with these new Best Silicone Pads with
Gold
contacts and Gold plated Rev. 9 Flex Circuit will just about last forever
contact wise!

New Gold
Silicone Pad Information.

Atari
was one of the First companies in the world to use Silicone contact pads with
carbon dot contacts in their Joysticks on a mass-produced product. Back some 25
years ago, the Silicone pad technology was in is infancy stages back then and
little was known about life expectancy, carbon contact materials, contact
designs / sizes and how long Silicone pad contact pads would even last. Old
Atari CX52 Joystick owners can tell you how many different feeling (Mushy) and
design changes the Atari CX52 Fire buttons went thru to try and cure their known
problems over the years.

The All New Best
Gold Silicone CX52 Fire buttons have two Major Improvements. Each New Best Molded
Orange CX52 Fire button, now has two side by side 4.5 mm
Gold metal contacts (slightly longer than the mating Rev. 9 Flex
Circuit mating contact surface interlocking “E” Grids) for the Top and
Bottom sections of the Fire button, for a Grand Total of Four
Gold metal contacts per
Orange Fire button.

The Second Major Improvement to the all
New
Gold Best Electronics CX52
Orange Fire button has a Lighter but Firmer /
Crisper feeling Fire Button now with a New
State of the Art Tactical Feed back feature. Now each time you press on
the firm Improved Best
Gold dot fire button,
as you release the Atari CX52 fire button, it will bounce back and give your
finger a Tactical response telling you the fire button as been Pressed
and Released. In a Side by Side comparison, the older series of Atari
CX52 Orange fire buttons compared to the New
Best Lifetime CX52 fire buttons with
Gold
contacts are a Night and Day Tactical difference. Mush with no Tactical feed
back Vs State of the Art Tactical fire button Feed back.

On the New improved / Upgraded
Gold Dot CX52 Numeric Keypad, Now has Twelve
5 mm
Gold Dot metal contacts. These 5 mm
Gold metal contacts are some of the
largest contacts ever used on any of the Atari CX52 Replacement Joystick Numeric
Keypads produced over the last 33 years.

The New Best
Gold
Dot CX52 Keypad also has the improved feel with the
Tactical Feed back feature. You can now visually tell a Standard Atari
CX52 Numeric Keypad from the New Best
Goldimproved
lifetime version (and our Best Upgraded Rebuilt CX52 Joysticks) by the New Gold
Colored Silk screened numbers on the numeric keypad.

What do these New
improved CX52 Gold Dot parts do for a Standard stock Atari CX52 Joystick?

A Stock Atari CX52
Joystick fitted with Best’s
Gold
Auxiliary Keypad, both
GoldFire Buttons,
Gold numeric Keypad and
GoldFlex Circuit, in theory should be the
Last set of Atari CX52 Silicone
contact pads you will ever have to install in your Atari CX52 Joystick. Thus
eliminating the two Major known failure rates of
Atari CX52 5200 Joystick for the last 25+ years, Non-Working Fire Buttons or can
not start the 5200 Game (bad
Auxiliary Keypad)

Of course, this assumes your Atari 5200 Motherboard Joystick Ports are
electronically up to Factory specifications. A 5200 motherboard with weak
Joystick port electronics could still have some Contact / Life Expectancy
problems with an All
Gold Silicone pad fitted CX52 Atari 5200 Joystick.

So now, my Atari CX52 Joystick
fitted with all Gold contract pads should now be a Lifetime Atari CX52
Joystick?

In theory, the Best
Gold
CX52 Joystick Silicone pads should last the useable life of the CX52 Joystick.
Each New CX52
GoldDot Silicone replacement pad is rated by our
Manufacture for over 300,000 actuation cycles per Silicone pad. Although it is
possible to physically wear thru the silicone pads top surfaces (and we have seen some rare cases of wear holes
thru the tops of the silicone pads on old exchanged CX52 Joysticks over the last
19 years) after hundreds of thousands of cycles of use, Most Atari 5200
CX52 Joystick owners will never
have to replace their CX52 Silicone contact pads again.

In the real world, you may have to still replace the Atari CX52 Joystick handle
Rubber Boots, Potentiometers and Cables as they possibly wear out after many
years and years of normal use.

What are the Costs of the New Best
CX52 All Gold
Joystick Silicone pads?

The New Improved Best CX52
Gold
Fire buttons are $5
per fire button (2 per controller). CO20501-G (New Gold Fire buttons
are sold as a matched set of 2 Gold fire buttons with one Gold Numeric Keypad)

New 2nd Generation
late 2012 design Gold Fire buttons with Tactical
feed back feature. CO20501-GT
$7 per fire button
(New Gold
Fire buttons are sold as a matched set of 2 Gold
fire buttons with one Gold
Numeric Keypad). For more information on the new 2nd Generation Gold
Dot fire buttons click here.

The Gold
Plated Rev. 9 Felix Circuits are $14.95
each. CO18124-G

The price of Goldhas tripled since our
last production run of Gold
plated Rev. 9 Flex Circuits. We have no choice but to raise the cost
of the Upgraded Goldplated Rev. 9 Flex
Circuits and also limit the Qty per Customer to 2 Gold
Plated Flex Circuits for now.

Best Electronics is now
shipping the second generation CX52 Joystick Gold Numeric pads with increased
pressure to push each keypad number and a much improved tactical feed back
bounce back (more tactical bounce back than the 2nd Generation gold dot 2nd gen.
fire buttons) on each upgraded keypad number.

The second generation Gold
Numeric Keypad are $7
each. CO18126-G 2nd

The Gold
Auxiliary Keypad are $5
each. CO18128-G

Fortunately all of the other
Best New 1st generation Gold
dot CX52 replacement parts were bought in large enough Qtys (production
runs), we do not have to raise any of other New CX52 Gold
dot part prices until we have to reorder them again, sometime in the future.

Because of the Very High
cost of the New tooling Molds to make the above
New Improved / Upgraded / Lifetime Atari CX52 Joystick
Gold
version Silicone Pads, the
Gold
Fire buttons (2 each) will be sold with a
Gold
version numeric keypad as a matched set of 3 Only, until further notice.

Jim F. of AZ.Jim ordered two sets of Bests exclusive made CX52 Gold
dot Lifetime upgrade parts for two bad Atari 5200 CX52 carbon dot Joysticks he
had. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! The order of the 5200
Controller Replacement Parts (gold) arrived quickly with exactly what I ordered.
Best of all, in no time flat my two Atari 5200 controllers were fully
functional! I used rubber cement, as your site suggested, to secure the flex
circuits. Once everything was back together, they worked! No fiddling needed.
Galaxian, here I come!"

Charles L. of WI Charles placed on order on Thursday, for 2 sets of Best
CX52 Joystick Gold
dotLifetime
replacement parts.
"Thank you so much for the super fast shipment! I had the parts in time to
rebuild the controllers this weekend and they worked great! The controllers are
better than new! Thanks for offering these parts to enthusiasts!"

Kit W. of APO(US Military person)EuropeKit picked up several sets of Bests CX52 Joystick Gold
Lifetime upgrade parts. "My last two purchases have been on point.
The 5200 controllers and the 5200 silver bezel makes my console seem like a new
5200. The 5200 trackball now works flawless as well, makes me happy you guys are
there to get what I need."

Jeff K. of PAJeff picked a set of Bests New all Gold 5200
Atari CX52 Joystick upgrade parts that turns an old Atari CX52 Joystick that had
its problems ever since they were 1st made some 25 to 30+ years ago, into a
Lifetime CX52 Gold Joystick. "I just wanted to thank you so much
for the new gold updates for my 5200 controllers. I have never enjoyed Gremlins
and Gyruss as much as I am now! Thank you!!"

Follow up Comment:"I still cant believe how incredible my
joysticks are running right now. The responsiveness is amazing! I am
fairly certain that if the OEM ones ran like these do, the console would have
been much more successful. I am just so thankful that a company like
yours exists, to ensure that future generations get to
experience the magic that is Atari! Never stop doing
what you do best!

Nathan H. of WI
"I got my newgolddot pads and flex circuit this past week and I have to say I am thrilled at how much those really did work!"

Aaron
S. of KS

"I just want to thank you guys for all your
help fixing my Atari 5200. Thegolddot
buttons and keypads are fantastic"

Ken W. of NC
"Just
to let you know that I finally got around to installing all of theGoldDot replacement parts in my 5200 controller.It's cliché I know
but it really is a the difference between night and day. It's like the
thing is brand new. No more literally making my thumbs numb and sore from
pushing those infernal side buttons in with the equivalent force one would apply
to try to dent steel. Just thought that I'd let you know how much I love
thosegolddot parts"

I installed a couple sets of your
New Atari Gold
upgraded CX52 Joysticks Silicone Pad sets and Flex Circuits. I notice that the
upper left New fire button does not have the same excellent New Tactical Feed
back feature as compared to the lower fire button.

With the new sets of improved Best CX52 Silicone pads with
Gold
contacts, it is Critical
that the Flex Circuit be re-glued flat to their back mounting plates (under the Numeric keypad by the Flex Circuit
Hump and left / right fire buttons). We find rubber cement (instead of Atari used double sided clear tape)
works very well on holding the New
Gold
Flex Circuits flat against their Mounting plates. On the Old Rev. 9 Flex
Circuits and Triple Dot fire buttons (and other
versions), the Flex Circuits could float between the bottom of the Fire
button pad and mounting back plate and still function OK. With these Mushy Fire
buttons, you would Never notice the difference. On all of the Atari CX52
Joysticks made, you will find that the Top left fire button will not have the
exact same new Tactical feel as compared to the right top fire button. This is
because of a lack of Internal Plastic Support / backing behind the flex circuit
as it passed thru to the top case assembly. The Top left fire button bottom
rectangular support pad is only supported on three sides instead of the normal 4
sides. Another way you can double check this, is to reverse the left
Gold
Dot fire button 180 degrees in its fire button bezel, reinstall. You will find
that the bottom fire button now has the Good Tactical feed back and the Top Fire
button now has less tactical feedback.

I notice that the top row of
numbers (1 – 3) on my freshly rebuilt CX52 with Lifetime Gold
Dot Silicone Numeric keypad do not have the same excellent tactical feel as the
others.

Assuming you have Glued down the Rev. 9 Gold Flex Circuit to the top of the
internal numeric Keypad support plate, Yes you will notice that the Top Row numbers
(1 – 3) on the Gold
Dot numeric Keypad will not have the same exact new tactical feed back. This is
because of the fixed internal design of the CX52 Keypad internal support plate.
This support plate has a top rounded edge and does not give enough support (three sides instead of 4 on each 1 – 3 number
push pads) to the New
Gold
Dot numeric Silicone pad along the very top edge. This is not noticeable on the
older design carbon dot Mushy CX52 numeric keypad pads, but is on the upgraded
Gold
Dot Keypad.

After close to 28+ years of selling
Reconditioned Atari Carbon dot and Gold
CX52 Joysticks, we have finally run out of the Atari CX52 Joystick cores to
rebuild, we got out of the local Sunnyvale Atari warehouses years ago. Any
Atari 5200 owner who purchased our Best CX52
Gold
Joysticks, 1 to 11+ years ago from us, knows that they are now lifetime
upgraded CX52 Joysticks and you do not need any spare old / used CX52 Joysticks
to keep as possible back up controllers. We are asking you to send us any
old / used Atari CX52 Joysticks you have. Keep them from going into a land
fill and recycle them so another deserving Atari 5200 owner like yourself will
have the same fun / lifetime use of a Best CX52
Gold
upgraded Joystick that you have. If you like Best will credit you Best
customer account a $6 credit per sent in CX52 complete controller for a current
or future Atari Purchase / order from Best Electronics.

I am not mechanically inclined and
do not want to try to rebuild (or do not have any cores CX52 to exchange) my old
Atari CX52 Joystick(s). What are your prices for your Best Reconditioned
Standard and Upgraded with Lifetime Gold
Dot Silicone pads Atari CX52 Joysticks?

*Exchanged Core / used
CX52 Joysticks must have all of the Stock plastic parts, with no cuts or damaged
cables. Missing or damaged Silicone pads / boots is OK.

What is
the current US Shipping charge on Exchanged or Out right buys on Best’s Reconditioned
CX52 Joysticks?

We have a Flat rate shipping charge
for US / Domestic shipped Atari CX52 reconditioned Joysticks. $12.75 Priority Mail
for 1 (Insurance included) or 2 CX52 Joysticks (for 2 CX52 Joysticks exchanged
add $2.65
Insurance to the total). California Residents must add their local
CA Sales tax to the total. CA sales tax is based on the CX52 Controller(s) cost
only (not on insurance or shipping charges). When sending some old Atari CX52
core(s) for exchange, it is best to include your full return ship to address
with phone number with a copy of any E-Mails we have sent you, a US Postal Money order made out to
Best Electronics. Any other form of Mail order payments, like a personal check,
other type or brands of Money Orders or Casher's checks can take up to a month or more
to clear thru our Atari Accounting department and that Atari Mail order released
to our Atari shipping department. We simply do not receive very many
Personal Checks, other brand of Money orders or Cashiers Checks for Atari Mail
order payments any more. So we are very lucky to do a once a month
or less bank deposit of any personal checks or money order Atari Mail order payments.
We go to the US Post Office almost 7 days a week here.
Click
here for Best's ship to Information.

International Atari Customers E-Mail

us at
bestelec@concentric.net

us for shipping Reconditioned / Upgraded CX52 GoldJoysticks or Bests GoldCX52 parts to your International
location.

Aaron L. of TX. Aaron has placed 3 to 4
different Atari orders with Best Electronics. This time Aaron
wanted take advantage of Best's CX52 Exchange Joystick program (the most
cost effective method) and send in two CX52 Joystick cores for exchange
for some of Bests Reconditioned / Upgraded CX52 Gold
dot Lifetime Joysticks "Wow!
These CX52 Gold Joysticks have completely exceeded my (high)
expectations! They are a pleasure to use and make the 5200 as it should
always have been. Thanks for your continued efforts on this front!
Realsports Baseball is so much fun to play with these joysticks!!"
Aaron did notice a minor
problem on his 5200 console, where the game cursor on some 5200 games
would not go to the far right. He read the Best CX52 Joystick
trouble shooting sheet that we include with each Best CX52 Gold
Joystick. One E-Mail back and forth to Aaron, Best concluded that
his 35+ year Atari 5200 console had drifted off the Atari Factory 5200
port settings very very slightly. So Aaron arranged to Call Best
Electronics with his 5200 console near the phone and Best talked him
thru the very very minor port adjustment Aaron had to do on his old 5200
motherboard. A total time on the phone of less that 5 minutes and
Aaron's 35+ year old Atari 5200 console was again back to the Atari 5200
Factory port settings. All of Aarons 5200 game cursor problems of
not going the far right went away.

Ray D. of PARay took advantage of Bests CX52 Joystick
exchange program (the most cost effective method) and sent in two old
carbon dot used / non working Atari CX52 Joysticks for exchange toward
two of Bests
Reconditioned / Upgraded CX52Golddot lifetime
Atari 5200 Joysticks."Thanks,
received them yesterday, and they’re awesome!"

Joey S. of CanadaJoey sent in two old Atari
CX52 non working Joysticks for exchange, for some of Bests Reconditioned
/ Upgraded all Gold
lifetime CX52 Joysticks. "Just wanted to drop a quick note
to let you know that I received the controllers and had a chance to give
one of the sticks a play. Holy cow! These are top notch! I was
enjoying my 5200 before by using a 2600 stick and a redemption box but I
couldn't enjoy the analog control games. The analog sticks are
wonderful... sure there are games like PAC man that benefit from a
digital stick by the 5200 sticks are awesome for Star Wars arcade and
others! Overall, I am a satisfied customer and Would recommend these
refurbished sticks to anyone with a 5200!"

Mark of DE Mark placed
his 1st Atari order with Best Electronics in February 2016. He
ordered one of Best Reconditioned / Upgraded 5200 CX52 Gold
Lifetime Joysticks. Placing his second order with Best in May 2016
he said: "By
the way, The controller I ordered from you is still working
fantastically. Love playing my 5200 everyday."

Rick V. of VTOn Ricks 1st order to
Best, he picked up (did an exchange, sent in his old CX52 Joystick
cores) for two of our Reconditioned / Upgraded CX52Gold
lifetime Joysticks.

About ready to place his 2nd Atari
order with Best."I have been super happy
with my CX-52’s by the way! Thanks again for providing that great
service."

Mark S. of ORMark
purchased Bests Reconditioned / Upgraded Atari 5200 CX52 all Gold
Joysticks with second gen. Golddot fire buttons with the new tactical feed back feature. "I
just wanted to take a second to let you know (again) how happy we are
with the 5200 controllers and the other devices/games I have purchased
over the last couple of months. The quality of the Best refurbished 5200
controllers in particular was reinforced to me over this weekend, when I
found one of my friends had an old 5200, which started a conversation
about the controllers and we got his out and started playing it. Night
and day difference… if I had to play using his stock controllers, I
would not be interested in the 5200 at all." Marks
forth feed back comment to Best.

Mike M. of ORReady to place his
third Atari order with Best. "

I really like the 2
Reconditioned / Upgraded CX52 Gold Joysticks I picked up last month,
like enough so that I would like to pick up 2 more to round out my
4-port system."This is Mikes second feed
back comment to Best.

Michael W.
of TNMichael
ordered one of Best reconditioned / upgraded GoldCX52 Joystick with 2nd Gen. Tactical feed
backGoldDot fire buttons."I received my 5200 controller
yesterday. After a minor adjustment of the consoles potentiometer, it
works great! Thank you for the super fast shipping! I
enjoyed reading the article inserts as well. Keep up the good work. You
are an asset to the Atari retro gaming community."

Ton P. of PA
Ton sent in two CX52 cores for exchange toward some of Best CX52 GoldLifetime controllers. He also picked up a new CX5200 console
Translucent Dust controller and a New in the shrunk wrapped box Atari
5200 Moon Patrol game. "I
received everything and was able to test it today -- It all works
brilliantly! Thank you so much for the great controllers and awesome
service!"

"I received the reconditioned 5200
controller (almost 3 weeks ago) and it works flawlessly. Shipping was very
fast and the environmentally friendlier packaging (with biodegradable foam
peanuts) is a nice touch."

Keith C. of TX

"Hello Best Electronics, I am sending this message to say how
unbelievably happy I am with my purchase from you. The 5200 controller is
simply amazing!!!"
Bests Reconditioned / Upgraded Gold
Dot CX52 Joystick with the New 2nd Gen. Tactical Fire buttons.
"It is immaculate and plays flawlessly! Thank You Best Electronics!
You made my day with these controllers and a happy gamer! You got yourselves
a future customer! BTW you told me I would get my order by this Friday. And
I got it today on Monday!?!?!? Lightning fast!! Thanks for everything!!! You
guys are simply THE BEST!!! I will recommend all my retro gaming friends to
you! THANKS A MILLION GUYS!!! A+++++++++++++++:-)"

"I recently ordered 2 of the Gold
Rebuilt Controllers from you and they work great" "Please send me 2 more
Reconditioned CX52 Gold lifetime Controllers with a replacement 5200 4 port
motherboard."

Stephen J. of WA

"The
Gold
CX52 joysticks are excellent
.. I really appreciate the quality and the support you provide."

Bruce P. of NJ

"I received it today"Best
reconditioned/upgraded CX52 Gold Joystick
"and it exceeds my expectations! Thanks so much for a fantastic product as
well as a fantastic service."

Matt J. of IN

"I
just received my refurbished CX52 controllers today" Best Reconditioned /
Upgraded GoldCX52 Joysticks
"and I have to say I am absolutely blown away...WOW! All
the buttons feel amazing and while I haven't had time to hook them up and play
yet, I have a feeling they will be worlds better than the old version."

How
do I order some Upgraded Atari CX52 Joystick(s) with the new Lifetime Gold
dot pad sets?

If
you have some CX52 Joystick Core(s) you want to exchange, then box them up (no
padded bags) drop in a personal check (see above costs) and a note with your
ship to address and phone number. We recommend you send them to us (Best
Ship to address on first web page) Priority Mail with Delivery
Confirmation.

If
you do not have any CX52 Cores to exchange and want to out right buy some
freshly Rebuilt / Upgraded CX52 Joystick, you can Call In (phone hours on first
web page) a Credit Card order or arrange (Via
E-Mail

at bestelec@concentric.net

) a different payment
method.

Joe S. of MN "Thanks
again for your assistance with calibrating my Atari 5200 console."
Joe had exchanged out some old non working Atari CX52
Joysticks for Best Reconditioned CX52 Joysticks. When Joe received the
Best Reconditioned CX52 Joysticks, he was having some problems with one of the
two Best reconditioned CX52 Joysticks he had received. We explained to Joe
that all Atari CX52 Joysticks Bests reconditions are tested on Atari Factory
consoles that are calibrated to Atari 5200 Engineering Spec's using Atari 5200
Diagnostic hardware. During the Best reconditioning process, each
reconditioned Atari CX52 Joystick is tested on several different Atari 5200
Consoles using several different Atari 5200 Game Cartridges and then are put
into our stock. Just before the Reconditioned CX52 Joysticks are sent out,
they again go into our Atari Tech's area to be again tested on Factory spec
Atari 5200 consoles. We explained to Joe, that we have found over the last
31+ years selling Atari CX52 Joysticks, that some of the Atari 5200 consoles
have electronically drifted off the Atari 5200 Factory Joystick port settings,
casing the one reconditioned CX52 Joystick problem Joe was having. We
explained that we can help Joe do the minor internal setting adjustment over the
phone within his 5200 console to get his one Best CX52 Joystick problem
corrected. "Controllers are working great! Kids and I
are having a blast! Thanks"

What
is the usual Turn around time on the exchanged Reconditioned CX52 Joysticks?

On
Phone orders for Non Exchange CX52 Joysticks, they are usually shipped the next
working day.

On
Exchanged CX52 Joysticks sent in, they are usually shipped within one or two
working days (depending the the payment method used see shipping costs
information above) after we receive your CX52 Core(s) from you.

What do
you normally replace on your Best Reconditioned / Upgraded CX52 Joysticks?

Because of our vast Inventory of
Atari CX52 Joysticks OEM replacement parts in stock, Best Electronics 100%
replaces the following CX52 Joystick parts on every Atari CX52 we have rebuilt
for the last 24+ years:

Both Left and Right Orange fire
buttons

Auxiliary Keypad (Start, Pause,
Reset)

Numeric Keypad

Flex Circuit

Joystick Rubber Boot

3 CX52 Case screws

Other parts that get replaced on an
“as required” basis per rebuilt CX52 controller:

Cable assembly

Controller Potentiometers

Controller Potentiometer rings

Controller Potentiometer arms

Bottom Actuator Plate

Top Actuator Plate

Controller Sliding Block

Joystick Rubber Boot retaining Ring

Snap in Aux. bezel

CX52 Handle or handle
shaft

Best Electronics knew in late 2011 that we were going to
run out of the New 2005 production run of the 1st generation of Atari
CX52 Joystick Gold Dot fire buttons sometime in late 2012. So in an effort to continue to
support the World Wide Atari 5200 owners with matched sets of CX52 Joystick
Gold Dot Silicon pads that turn the old failing or bad Atari CX52 Carbon dot
Joysticks into Lifetime upgraded Gold Atari CX52 Joystick controllers. So early in 2012 we started to work on
the next generation Atari CX52 Gold
dot fire button project.

At Best we are always
trying to improve on the original Atari products (Composite Video out and OS
upgrades for Atari 2600 and 7800 consoles, Gold CX40 Lifetime PCB boards which
turn old Atari CX40 Joysticks into a lifetime Joystick, CX30 Replacement Super
Pots that turn old worn out Atari Paddles into lifetime Paddles).

We felt that we could do one better on the next
Generation Gold Dot CX52 Fire Buttons (which cured for ever the known 25+ year 5200
Joystick fire button failure problem, which thousands and thousands of Atari
5200 Joystick World Wide Owners have found out since 2005) when we started this
new project. After close to 9 months of work on this new 5200 project, a brand
New design CX52
Gold Dot Fire button mold ($,$$$) (we
scraped out the 2005 new fire button mold, because it could not be upgraded to
our new fire button design standards), and what seemed like hundreds and
hundreds of new prototype samples of Rev. 2 Gold Dot CX52 Fire button samples Received
and Rejected over and over. Best Electronics is now proud to announce the New 2nd
generation CX52 Joystick Gold
Dot Fire buttons with a New Tactile feed back feature!

Any old Atari 5200 owner can tell you CX52
Joystick carbon dot fire buttons went thru many changes over a 5 to 15 year
period as Atari Engineering tried to fix many different CX5200 Joystick fire
button problems. Small Carbon dots, Medium Carbon dots to Larger Carbon dots
and toward the end, one set of triple small carbon dots on each top and another
set of 3 carbon dots on bottom orange CX52 Fire button and so on. Also the feel
(when the fire button was pressed and released) of each Carbon dot fire button
changed over the years from mushy, to spongy and in the end neutral feeling
Carbon dot CX52 fire buttons. All of these Atari Engineering CX52 Carbon dot
Fire Button fixes, never cured the known CX52 Joystick fire button failures
until the Best

Gold
Dot Fire button final cure.

The New Best Tactile feed back CX52 Joystick
Gold
Dot fire buttons other New feature, is they now require more pressure to push
them down (compared to the 1st Generation Best CX52 Gold
Dot fire buttons), but not enough increased pressure as to fatigue your finger
tips after hours and hours of 5200 Game play and when released have a New light
bounce back finger tip tactical feed back. Something a kin to a high grade PC
Keyboard or current State of the Art Video Game controller. Which when a Key
cap or game controller button is pressed and released, the key cap or button
bounces back and gives your finger tip a slight kick back, telling your finger
tip the key cap or button has and been properly pushed down and released. Our
Engineering prototype function and life cycle tests with the final version 2nd
generation Gold
Dot Fire buttons, depending on the different control group of CX52 Joystick
testers and how the different tester pushed and released (fast, slow, rapid,
angled push or straight on push) on the new Gold
CX52 Fire buttons, a lot of the CX52 Joystick testers managed to get an audible
Mechanical Click Sound out (like a mechanical switch, which is amazing
considering the New tactical CX52 fire buttons are almost made of 95% Silicon
rubber material) of the 2nd Generation CX52 Gold
dot Silicon Fire buttons when pushed and released

When we designed and released the 1st
Generation CX52
Gold Dot fire buttons in mid 2005, Gold
was selling for $535 per ounce. In late 2012, Gold
is now selling for around about $1,720+ an ounce. Even though the price of Gold
has been going up and up in 2013, the New 2nd Generation Best Gold
Dot fire buttons, now have over double the amount of Gold
plating thickness on the 4 metal dots on each new Silicon fire button compared
to the 1st Generation Best CX52 Joystick Gold
Dot fire buttons.

Because of the Original Atari Engineering CX52
joystick bottom plastic case design (which has not changed over the total life
span of all CX52 Joystick bottom plastic controller cases made) the upper CX52
Joystick fire button silicon pad does not have the same plastic back support
around the bottom / base of the upper fire button to properly support it. You
will find on the 2nd Generation Tactile Gold Dot fire buttons, only the bottom CX52 controller Gold
fire button will have the New improved Tactile feed back feature and the top
Gold fire button will have a reduced tactile feed back because of the lack of
internal plastic support (CX52 bottom controller case) at the base of the top
fire button Silicon pad area. You can feel / test this basic CX52 joystick top
fire button design / support problem / difference by installing 2nd
Generation Gold
Dot Fire button in a CX52 Joystick bottom case. Press the bottom CX52 orange
fire button and feel the tactile feedback and increased pressure to push it
down. Now rotate that same bottom CX52 Joystick Fire button and brown plastic
fire button bezel / holder 180 degrees into the top position and then reinsert
back into to the CX52 bottom case (now the bottom Gold
dot fire button is in the top CX52 Joystick position). You will now see that
when the top fire button (which was the bottom fire button with good Tactical
feed back) is pushed again, it does not have the same good Tactile feed back as
compared to new bottom fire button. So this top fire button reduced tactical
feed back problem is a design flaw in the basic Atari CX52 Joystick bottom case
design, which was never corrected or even addressed by Atari Engineering,
because at that time, Atari did not have any Carbon Dot fire buttons with any
kind of Tactical feed back features back 25+ years ago. You will find that
about 90 to 95% of the Atari and 3rd Party made 5200 game cartridges,
only use the bottom Fire button.

The New cost for the 2nd Generation
Best CX52 Gold
Dot Fire buttons is $7 each (two per CX52 Joystick controller). Again each set
of 2 new 2nd Generation Atari Gold
Dot Fire buttons are sold as matched set of 2 Gold Dot Fire buttons with a New CX52 Gold dot numeric Keypad.

Best Reconditioned / Upgraded Atari CX52
Gold
Dot CX52 Joysticks with the 2nd Generation Gold
dot fire buttons are $79 each without exchange, $42 each with exchange CX52 core(s) sent in plus Shipping and Insurance
(see above Information on current Shipping and Insurance costs, about 1/3 down
from the top of this web page)

We have a small quantity of the 1st
Generation CX52 orange Gold Dot Fire Buttons left in stock. When those sell out, Best Electronics
will No Longer produce or sell the 1st Generation CX52 Gold Dot Fire buttons. At that point we will 100% switch over to only
selling the 2nd Generation Gold
dot fire button replacement upgraded parts and Reconditioned / Upgraded Gold lifetime CX52 Joysticks.

For more information, customer reviews and to see the original Information on
the Best CX52
Gold Dot
5200 Joystick
cure,click hereor scroll up to the top of this 5200
page.

Limited supply on some 5200 Titles, some titles only one is in stock,
sold and a first come first serve basis! We Suggest when placing orders for 5200
Cartridges, you always have a 2nd and 3rd choice of the same dollar value 5200 Game
cartridge listed, in case your 1st choice has sold out. This allows us to process your
order faster and Not have to issue Credits, Refunds or try to contact you by phone or
mail.

Quest For Quintana Roo, A game where you search thru an Egyptian Pyramid for
Treasures $29

UsedQuest for Quintana
Roo (Atari 5200).
14
day money back,
buyer pays return
shipping Current E-bay
auction as of 03-20-14
Buy it now for $71.95 with free shipping
(Originally purchased New from Best Electronics)

Bests
New Quest for Quintana Roo for the Atari 5200
(Cartridge with Instructions) with normal
90 day Atari Warranty.
$29.00 plus Max US shipping $5.80

Used
Quest for Quintana Roo (Atari 5200).

Seller
did not specify a returns policy Final
winning E-bay bid (12 bids) as of 03-19-14. $41.00 plus $3.50
shipping
(Originally purchased New from Best Electronics)

Bests
New Quest for Quintana Roo for the Atari 5200
(Cartridge with Instructions) with normal
90 day Atari Warranty.
$29.00 plus Max US shipping $5.80

New translucent see thru Atari 5200 2 Port and 4 Port models Dust cover that has
a custom tailored fit with reinforced edging around the base and a light surface
texture. CB101066-T $12.95

Atari 5200 CX55 "T" Shaped 2600 adapter for the Atari 5200 2 Port models. This Atari made adapter, is a complete self contained Atari 2600 unit that uses Power and View circuits of the Atari 5200 2 port console. You will have to use 1 to 2 Atari CX40 style Joysticks on the CX55 adapter. The Atari CX52 Joysticks do not work with the CX55 adapter. All you have to do, is plug in the CX55 adapter into your 5200 top cartridge port, install a 2600 game in the top of the "T" shaped CX55 and install one of two Atari CX40 joysticks on the sides of the CX55 and turn on your Atari 5200 2 port console. In 95 - 98% of the cases, this CX55 2600 adapter will NOT work with the earlier 4 Port model Atari 5200 Consoles. Most of the Atari 4 port 5200 consoles require an Atari 5200 4 port Electronic Retro fit kit installed (soldered in) before they will work with the CX55. CX55 $65.00

Atari 5200 4 port console Information Tip:
The Atari 5200 4 Port (can insert up to 4
Atari CX52 Joysticks in the front) consoles use a custom made CX522 Atari Auto
switching switch box unique to the Atari 5200 4 Port console only. (click
here to see a picture of it) When you 1st see a 5200 4 port console,
you will see the Heavy Duty RF cable (stores under the 5200 console bottom
case), a channel 2 / 3 rear switch on the back bottom case, but no where on the
Top or Bottom 5200 case set is there a 5200 Power Supply jack on the 5200 4 port
console. The 5200 external Power supply is plugged into the Atari CX522
5200 4 port Custom Switch box which attaches to your TV / Display.
When you push the On / Off button on the main 5200 4 port console, the 5200
Power is sent from the Custom Atari 5200 TV Switch box down the single 5200 RF
cable to the 5200 console to power it and the 5200 RF TV signal is sent back up
the same RF cable to the TV switch box. So you did
not have move the mechanical slide switch lever (Game Console or TV
positions) on most older mechanical TV switch boxes of that vintage. This
Atari design 5200 Auto Switching TV Switch box was about 10 to 15 years ahead of
its time. Other newer vintage Game consoles used a similar auto switching
TV switch box about 10 to 15 years after Atari 5200 innovation and it became an
Video Game industry standard on just about all video game consoles now.
One of the more common comments we hear from 5200 4 port new and getting back
into the 5200 4 port consoles, is when I put the 5200 Power Supply connector
into the CX522 Custom TV Switch box, I saw a large spark between the end of the
5200 Power Supply barrel connector and the Mating Power Supply connector on the
CX522 Atari 5200 Custom TV switch box. This happens because the 5200
CX522 Custom Switch box is trying to power up the 5200 motherboard circuits (but
not turn it one) when you plug in the 5200 power supply connector. So you
end up doing a live power connection, thus causing the spark you see.
The proper way to connect up a 5200 4 port console,
is to first make the RF connection (5200 Heavy Duty RF cable to the CX522 Auto
switch box), next plug the Coax cable connector on CX522 TV Switch box to the TV
/ Display coax in connection, next the 5200 Power Supply barrel connector
to the 5200 CX522 Custom Switch box without the other
end of the 5200 Power supply (110V) plugged into the wall socket. The very last thing you do is to plug the Atari 5200 Power supply
connector into the 110V wall socket. This way you avoid getting the large
spark between the 5200 Power supply barrel connector and the Custom Atari 5200
CX522 4 port TV switch box connector and possibly damaging it!

This page Last modified:
August 25, 2017

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